Miguel's Global Blog

Mikhail Gorbachev and the Collapse of Communism

2009-05-13T06:55:00.001-07:00

The Collapse of Communism

2009-05-12T07:11:00.002-07:00

During the Cold War the USSR and the U.S. were the world's leading superpowers. After WW2 these two world powers were competing in a race. Both of them being world powers and armed with atomic weapons so they did not get in to any actual fighting. The cost of keeping up with each other was high for both countries. For the USSR it was too much. Their economy soon collapsed at the high price of competing with the U.S. With the collapse of the USSR the communist countries that they supported soon also collapsed due to the fact that their main source of money came from Soviet Russia.

Nelson Mandela and Apartheid

2009-05-12T07:11:00.001-07:00

Apartheid is a policy of legal racial segregation.
Nelson Mandela was raised in South Africa. He lived in a part under the Apartheid system. He was treated unfairly just because his skin was black. People were treated unequally. Living conditions were harsh in South Africa. For example, if a white man and a black man had the same job. The white man could possibly make more money in a week than the black man could make in an entire year.
He lead an underground movement. It didnt last long however because he was sentenced to life in prison in 1964. He was freed 27 years after his imprisonment. Five years later, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and elected president of South America.

African Independence

2009-05-04T07:13:00.000-07:00

African Independence was a period when African colonies gained its independence from the European countries. During the mid 1950's the continent of Africa was being ruled by European countries, because the Europeans wanted the natural resources that were available in Africa. After 20 years Africa was a whole different continent, because the colonies gained independence from the Europeans and went on to become independence countries. It was easy for the African countries because the European countries were weakened after WWII. The Europeans did not want to deal with their colonies, because it was very expensive to run colonies from countries far away. Many Africans became well educated. Africa had many leaders because there were so many provinces. These leaders were inspired by African-American leaders. They had Leopold Senghor, who lead Sengal and later became president; Marcus Garvey was jamaican born, but his goal was to lead Europeans out of Africa and have Africa ruled by Africans; Kwame Nkrumah became Ghana's first prime minister; Jomo Kenyatta led Kenya through a harsh independence; etc.

Film Lesson: "The Right Stuff"

2009-04-08T07:12:00.000-07:00

The US and the USSR were competing on who had the better space program. They at first competed on who could send a man into space first. The Russians succeded first as the US only sent a chimpanzee into space, while the Russians succeded in sending a man. The Russians were clearly winning the competition.

Scenes that I will remember from this movie are all the Rocket failures that NASA had, as it was strange to see how bad it was in the beginning. I will also remember the scene of when the pilot was able to pass the sound barrier in the jet plane. Lastly, I will rember the scenes of all the tests the scientists do on the austronauts, as they seem very intense.

NATO and The Warsaw Pact

2009-04-06T07:14:00.000-07:00

NATO is an organization that includes countries in Europe and North America. The major reason for the formation of NATO was that the countries involved wanted a mutual defense alliance so that if one of them were attacked all of the other countries in NATO would come to their aide.
Along with helping European nations with defense, since the western European nations were economically in shambles at the end of WWII, the agreement also helped them with economic aide under the Marshall Plan. This would be done as long as the countries agreed to cooperate with each other. This would help them rebuild more quickly and get them on good terms.

Film Lesson: Schindler's List

2009-03-26T07:03:00.000-07:00

Schindler's list was a great and pretty accurate movie on the Holocaust. It was a good idea to make it in black in white, since it went more with that time. making it in black in white would also easily allow actual footage to be put into the movie, as they were all in black in white. As I viewed it the scenes that were most powerful to me as a viewer are the liquidation of the ghettos, where they send all the jews to concentration camps. It was sad to see how ruthless the Nazis were against the jews and how they killed anyone that showed anykind of refusal.

One image from the film that will stay with me is when they showed the entrance to Aushwitz, when Schindler's women workers were accidentally transported to the death camp. It was a pretty scary sight from knowing so much of the terrors that occured there. It was also a crazy sight when they showed all the burned bodies being packed up, when the camp was being rid of evidence, as everyone including the Nazis were goin crazy from the killing and smell. It must have been really freaky having all the human ashes "snow" down.

Film Lesson: Night and Fog

2009-03-26T06:57:00.000-07:00

Night and Fog was a really powerful film documentary. I have never seen anything like it. It was great to see how it all looks like now, how the green grass has grew at the camps, as it almost looks like a peacful area. However after seeing the wired electrical fences and the various buildings, you can't even imagine the terror that must have occured.

Unlike Schindler's list, Night and Fog only used actual footage from the holocaust. I think that, that made this film stronger because all the gruesome footage that you saw, you know definatelly was not made up. I think that the documentary illustrates the holocaust more efficiently as it makes you deeply imagine how things occured at those camps, like when they showed the gas chamber with the nail scratchings on the concrete roof. Another example is when they showed that there was actually a prison in the camp! People were in such a tight fit in the prison that they could not lie down or crouch, and the documentary explained how the windows were not soundproof which gives you the idea of all those desperate people just screaming, crying, and loosing their minds.

Schindler's list I think is least powerful only because it was not completely actual footage. However most of the footage was definatelly accurate to what really happened. Schindler's list is great in that it lets you visualize what occured after imagining the terrors that occured at the camps. It is also longer than the documentary and not only showed footage of the camps, it showed footage of parts like the ghettos. They were both great and powerful films.

The Treaty of Versailles (ended WWI)

2009-02-24T07:00:00.002-08:00

After World War I, Germany was greatly affected by the Treaty of Versailles. The treaty of Versailles blamed Germany completely, for the war. The treaty held Germany responsible for that damages that resulted from the war, iron costs, it limited their army to 100,000 soldiers, and they even took away a lot of their territory.

This treaty wasn't fair as it was hugely simplified. It didn't make much sense, and it was just wrong to blame one nation for the entire war. Some of the causes of World War 1 leads to Germany- but not every last one. Therefore it was without justice to blame them for the war. Germany struggled to recover. Germany went into a depression, leaving thousands of citizens unemployed. Their economy dropped, and people were left with no homes. This was way to harsh of a punishment for Germany.

Historians say that The treaty of Versailles led to the rise of Fascism and Adolf Hitler. I believe they say this because the Treaty gave Germany many hardships and faced economic depression. Germany was vulnerable and weakened, thus Hitler came in to lead Germany. People followed Hitler as they had no hope other than having him lead them out of depression, and soon was the rise of Fascism.

Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) and the Modernization of Turkey

2009-02-24T07:00:00.001-08:00

The Ottoman Empire was one of the largest empires in history. The empire was a Major Muslim dominated empire. However, like every other major empire in history, it eventually reached its downfall. The Ottoman empire was on the losing side of World War 1. They were working with Germany. With this the Ottoman empire broke up and was split up into many countries. One of those was Turkey. Mustafa Kemal became its first president. His principles were stated as the "Six Arrows". This was his drive, his purpose and his values which defined everything he did and was reason behind everything he did. The Six Arrows were republicanism, populism, secularism, reformism, nationalism, and statism. He made sure that all the aspects of the Turkey government was separated. This was called secularism.
Mustafa wanted to give his country a modern look. He made some changes, or 'reforms'. In his ideas, secular government and education played a major role. Also: the fez with European hats, women stopped wearing the veil, every citized took surnames, and the islamic calendar gave wya to the Western calendar.
Secular- Seperation of state and religion.
Did you know?

Film Lesson - "Gandhi"

2009-02-10T07:01:00.000-08:00

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi helped his nation of India gain independence Great Britain by being a leader for the Indian people. He persuaded the Indians to fight for independence but without violence. He wanted them to fight by peaceful means. This proved very successful against the British rule. Gandhi also dressed in simple cloth that he produced on his own, to dress just like his prison mates. He also persuaded his people to boycott British goods. When his people used violence against the British Gandhi starved himself in order to punish the people.

Gandhi can be related to a peacemaker, because he was 100% against violence. Even after the British treated them terribly, he still did not take violence into action. Instead he used nonviolent ways to trick the government , hence the term "civil disobedience". Gandhi did a very good job at doing so. The British had a so called double wammy on the Indians, because they were taking their cloth and materials and bringing them back to Britain to make clothes. Then they would take those clothes back to India and sell them. Gandhi along with thousands of followers gathered water from the ocean and evaporated the water to collect the salt, and therefore had a much needed good while boycotting the British salt.

The Russian Revolution

2009-01-11T12:26:00.000-08:00

The Russian Revolution began after WWI. It occured from 1917 to 1918. Russia's economy and government were extremely weak because of the way the czar was guiding them threw the war. hunger and starvation was greatly hurting the population. The people were getting frustrated and extremely angry with the Czar. The Russian Revolutiona was also known as the March Revolution as it began in March, 1917. The people revolted against the Czar and he lost power over Russia. The Soviet Union replaced the Tsar military. Russia became a communist country. Lenin was the leader of the Voliet communist group, the Bolsheviks, which gained power in Russia. They followed the ideas of Karl Marx. Lenin told the people that he was a great leader and promised them "Peace, love, and bread."

Causes of WWI

2009-01-09T06:41:00.000-08:00

World War I, also known as "The Great War" was not named World War I until after World War II. Militarism was was a major cause in the war since countries started spending loads of money on the military. Soon alliances such as the tripple alliance were formed and that caused a mojor threat to other countries. Of course the assination of Austria-Hungary's Archduke Franz Fernidad was a major cause of WWI.

After the assination of Archduke Franz Fernidad, countries that were allies with another country joined the war. Soon there were so many countries involved in the war that it became the first world war. World War I was also called the trench war, from all the trenches that were made and used during the war. The Americans only joined the fight against the triple alliance after they were suddenly attacked, just like in World War II.

The Opium Wars

2008-12-10T06:45:00.000-08:00

The Opium Wars was the very first drug war in history. It began when the Chinese government officials began their anti-opium campaign. China's population were becoming over addicted to opium which hurt China's economy, people, and pride. After the Chinese government began their anti-Opium Campaign, The British were angered and were afraid that their economy and trade would be harshly affected. Therefore they looked forward to the only solution, war. When the Chinese government officials denied stopping their anti-opium campaign, the British sent out gun-ships and destroyed Chinese coastal cities.

Great Britain of course won the Opium Wars against China. The British had better warfare technology that China had not caught up to at the time. After China was defeated, they were forced to sign the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842, and also the British supplementary Treaty of Bogue in 1843.

Film Lesson: "Mountains of the Moon"

2008-12-03T06:39:00.000-08:00

The Europeans faced many hardships as they explored Africa. Some of them were: that they caught diseases like malaria and had to cures for them till later. They also had no maps, so Africa was an unknown land to them. Many African tribes were territorial and killed/tortured foreign invaders, therefore the Europeans always had to trade and give away things to content the others. The European explorers also had difficulty sleeping in the wilderness as they had to be protected from bugs and insects. Africa was completely unknown land to the Europeans, and that was a major factor into making exploration difficult.

It is weird that Lake Victoria is named after a British Queen, since it is located deep inside Africa. It is strange since the British did not discover the lake as there were already people living there. Africa had no specific boundaries or border lines. Africa's countries were all mapped out by the British. It is also weird how the lake is still named Lake Victoria today.

The Europeans had a lot of technological advances compared to the Africans. The Europeans had huge ships, magnifying glasses, telescopes, guns, goods, etc. The latest weapons the Africans had at that time were spears. The Europeans were more advanced and developed technological.

The Europeans eventually conquered Africa easily because of their invention of the machine gun. The Africans were surprised from a basic handgun, and the machine was just devastating. This allowed the Europeans to easily overtake Africa and conquer it. The Africans had no defenses against the Europeans' guns. There was no chance of stopping the Europeans from invading and taking over their land.

The Meiji Restoration of Japan

2008-11-26T06:40:00.000-08:00

Mathew Perry went to the coasts of Japan to trick the Japanese, pretending that he was "negotiating". Japan did not desire to trade with any other nation/country as they were in isolation. Commodore Perry wasn't negotiating as much as bulling Japan. He brought a naval force to Japan that did not use sails. He did this to impress the Japanese, and it worked. The Japanese had never seen anything like them.

During the Meiji Rostoration, japan began to "westernize" itself. They did this by centrilizing their government. Japan set out an expedition to "gather wisdom from all over the world". They set out an ambitious program military, social, political, and economic reforms that transformed Japan into a modern nation - state and major world power.

Japan is an Archipelago. This means that Japan is made up of a chain of islands.

Karl Marx and Communism

2008-11-06T06:38:00.000-08:00

Karl Marx's idea of communism made peoples' feelings on how it was living in the industrial revolution. Karl Marx wrote The Communist Manifesto stating his ideas of communism and saying that the landlords should should not be controlling the workers as there was a majority of workers. He hated the fact that the poor were getting poorer, while the rich were getting richer. He believed that everyone should be paid the same.

He thought that capitalism was evil because the rich had all the power. To him the Bourgeois (Owners) were the bad guys as they barely did any work and became richer. The good guys then were the proletariat (workers) as they worked hard and were the majority in the population. He wanted all the proletariats of the world to unite and revolt against all the bourgeois.

Karl Marx and the Industrial Revolution

2008-11-05T06:39:00.000-08:00

Karl Marx did not like the Industrial Revolution. He was disapointed by the treatment of workers in Europe. The conditions in the factories were very harsh and unsafe. He desired for all workers of the world to unite and form a revolution. He wanted workers to control farms and factories instead of the landlords.

The Industrial Revolution inspired Marx to invent Communism as he despiced the way capitalism worked. He thought that workers were treated unfairly and in unsafe condition. The landlords became richer, while the workers became poorer; This made Marx unhappy and desired for all the workers to unite and form a revolution to control the farms and factories. He wanted workers to share wealth in this new idea of Communism. He wanted workers to have the power and everyone to be treated equally in Communism.

Nationalism and the creation of Italy

2008-10-16T06:47:00.000-07:00

Nationalism is belonging to, rooting for, and fighting for, your own country. Nationalism is expressed and used everyday of our lives. I am nationalistic because I consider myself an american. I agree with the same flag that all americans share, and I speak our national english language. Also, all americans vote for the government.

Nationalism helped in building new nations. Nationalism helped in building Italy as we know it today. Italians were sick of having foreign rulers, and desired a change. In 1832, Giuseppe Mazzini organized a nationalist group called 'Young Italy'. Italy used to be made up of city states that were ruled by Austrians. Soon the Italians joined up and fought for what they desired.

Simon Bolivar and Latin American Revolutions

2008-10-10T06:40:00.000-07:00

Simon Bolívar is credited with contributing decisively to the independence of the present-day countries of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Panama, and Bolivia. He is sometimes known as the "George Washington of South America." He is well known also as "El Libertador." He was greatly motivated by the French and American Revolutions.

In Venezuela he joined a group of patriots that seized Caracas, in 1810. He demanded independence from the spaniards. Great Britain did not allow them full independence, thus Bolivar recaptured Caracas in 1813 from the spaniards, when he took control of a patriot army.

Bolivar wars forced to retreat to Columbia and then Jamaica. In Haiti he gained a force that allowed him to take Venezuela, and became dictator. Next, he went and took control of Columbia from the spaniards. He then organized the original republic of columbia. In 1824, his army defeated the spaniards and he liberated Peru. Upper Peru was named Bolivia in his honor. The constitution that he created for Bolivia is one of his most important political pronouncements.

Robespierre and The Reign of Terror

2008-09-23T06:40:00.000-07:00

The Reign of Terror was a period of violence that occured fifteen months after the onset of the French Revolution (1793 - 1794). Durning this period of time, thousaunds of people were murdered. The amount ranged from 16,000-40,000. Many were killed by the guillotine device, in which victims lay their heads and a razor sharp blade cuts their heads off.

Maximiliem Robospierre's aim was to eliminate all counter-revolutionary things, to make new armies, and to assure food for the armies and cities. Some of their measures were demanded by the people of Paris, whose support was essential. He took control of the governmetn and tried to wipe out any trace of the old monarchy. Kings, queens, and jacks were removed from playing cards and replaced with faces of revolutionaries. The calendar was also changed. All of the churches in Paris were closed. He had completely changed the original revolutionary ideas of liberty, equality and freedom.

French Revolution Work Sheet

2008-09-23T06:39:00.001-07:00

1)
a- The Nobility.
The peasants were most critical to the nobles because they had almost complete control over them. The peasants were very angry and thought that they had no rights to take control over them. They believed that man is born free, and no one has natural authority over them.

b- The King.

The king had the luxurious life. He ruled with absolute power, and no one could tell him what to do. He had complete authority over France.

c-The Clergy.

The Clergy were like the nobles. They usually lived in luxury in chateaux and

palaces. They didn't really have to pay taxes, and so people in France were critical to them.

Most French peasants had to pay impossible taxes. They had to pay almost ten times what they had. One small article says that a woman and her husband owned a small piece of land. They only owned one cow and a poor horse, but had to pay 20Kg of wheat, three chickens, 60Kg of oats, and more.

The authors point was that peasants had most of the work to do. The cartoon shows a peasant carrying the burden of maintaining the feudal lords and the clergy. The person carrying the other two people is a peasant. The people the peasant is carrying represent the feudal lords and the clergy. the caption, "One hopes this will end soon," is important because its showing that the peasants are desperate for a change. They don't want everyone else to have all the power.

It is clear that source B shows the downside of a French peasants life. (If there are any good sides) Source B explains that the peasants were taxed heavily, and most couldn't even keep up with them. This particular person owned a small amount of land, and only a cow with a poor horse. He was being taxed way more than what he had. The quote at the end, "The taxes and feudal dues are crushing us," means that they can barley survive with these taxes.

Sources A, B, and C do explain why poor people resented the rich because all of them show how hard life is from a peasants point of view. For example, source C shows that all of the people in the higher classes get a yearly income, some more than others. But, the peasants don't make any money.

(6)
Rousseau was an influential writer at this time. Along with other writers
like Voltaire, he wanted France to have a more democratic form of government. The peasants would highly be influenced by his words. Peasants lived a desperate and unfair life. They are born free, then "taxed to death." The wealthy classes ruled all the people, while in Rousseau's pamphlet he states that power to make laws belongs to the people and only to the people. He disliked the current government, as almost all of the peasants did.

(7)
The pamphlet made from Rousseau was banned in 1775. It was probably banned because it opposed the way the government stood. The wealthy members of the French society would want it to be banned. The pamphlet would influence peasants and could cause a revolt against the government. The wealthy estates would lose their money, power, luxury, and privileges.

John Locke and "The Enlightenment"

2008-09-18T06:40:00.000-07:00

John Locke & his ideas -
John Locke was probably the most famous of the Enlightenment Thinkers. He heavily influenced modern democracy. His ideas influenced Thomas Jefferson when he wrote the U.S. Constitution. The rights that Jeffeson was talking about are: All men are created equal, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Also, Citizens are born with these rights, and no one can take them away from you, no matter what.

The Government -
The Governmetn gets its power from the people. According to the Declaration of Independence people have the power of choosing the ones who will govern. John Locke's ideas were that all men had liberty and therefore they voted on what they wanted and who they wanted.

Miguel A's Global Blog Studies ~ The Trial of Galileo

2008-09-12T06:38:00.000-07:00

Geocentric vs. Heliocentrism -
The Geocentric theory is the belief that the Earth is the center of the universe. Everything revolves around the Earth in perfect circles, including the Sun. Also it was believed that farther off after a layer of stars was heaven. Heliocentrism however, is that the Sun is in the center and the planets revolve around the Sun. The Geocentric theory was the first theory as people belived entirely on the bible and religion. Heliocentrism came after the scientific revolution and is proven in modern times.

The Trial of Galileo -
The trial of Galileo was a trial on Geocentrism vs. Heliocentrism. His beliefs were against the beliefs of the Catholic Church. His beliefs of science and humanism went against the beliefs of scholaticism and absolutism that the Catholic Church held in power. Galileo believed in science and in a more complex world. Others however, believed in God being the lord and making Earth the center of the universe. Therfore, this was the reason of his trial.

Miguel A's Global Blog Studies ~ Scientific Revolution.

2008-09-11T06:45:00.000-07:00

Scientific Method -
The Scientific Method was a new way of thinking during/after the Scientific Revolution. Before the 1500's, people believed what others said. However, as the Scientific Method was created scientist only made theories into facts by proof. They conducted experiments and concluded their results as proof. The Scientific Method is the most sophisticated way to prove or disprove a theory.

An experiment -
An example where the scientific method is highly helpful is in solving crimes. For example, to catch a suspect of a murder, the police will gather DNA and observe the crime scene. They will soon gather suspects and hypothesize who the guilty one is. They will keep testing their theories and expand their thinking. Soon after having a consistant solution, they will finally have proof on who the real suspect is. Therefore, the Scientific Method is useful in solving practically any theory.

Miguel A's Global Blog Studies . . . prd 03 evolution vs. creationism

2008-09-05T06:54:00.000-07:00

Darwin's theory of evolution -

This theory suggests that all organisms evolved from one another. All animals are connected in thi s theory. It is said that the organisms evolved from natural selection. Thus, the organisms evolved for better chances of survival. The orgainisms obtain more complex traits to enhance their srvivalbility in the wild. For example, apes were said to evolve to being homo-sapiens to overwatch for predators.

Creationism -

Creationism suggests that all life forms, the Earth, and the universe were created by a diety (as god). This is a religious belief that everything was formed as it is. Nothing is connected by evolution, everything was formed individually.

My Belief -

Being catholic, i believe in creationism. I beleieve that god is the overseer who has created life forms, humans, Earth, and the Universe. However, Darwin's theory of evolution seems well explained. Also in these days, his theory is well backed up by evidence to look real enough. I still believe enough in god to understand the theory of creationism.

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2008-09-04T07:14:00.001-07:00

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